French energy major Engie has partnered with eleQtra, a UK-based
developer of power and transportation projects with a focus on
sub-Saharan Africa, to build a 50-MW wind project in Ghana.

The
US$120 million Ada Wind Project will be located in the Greater Accra
Region, 109 km east of the capital Accra. Operations are expected to
commence in 2019, six years after Ghana launched the feed-in tariff
(FiT) scheme to entice renewable energy independent power developers.
Engie will take a 40% stake in the project.

“eleQtra is delighted
to have Engie joining the development of what we believe will be the
first wind energy project in Ghana,” eleQtra Partner Ebbe Hamilton was
quoted saying.

Hamilton said the joint venture between the two
companies paved way for the next phase of developing the project to
bring it into operation “as soon as possible.”

According to Engie
regional manager Western & Central Africa Philippe Miquel, the
project will be instrumental in diversifying Ghana’s energy portfolio.
“Our partnership will bring the technical experience, the local
knowledge and the funding required developing, constructing and
delivering this competitive 50-MW wind project,” Miquel said in a
statement.

Under the August 2013 FiT scheme, electricity
generated from Ada will be sold to the Electricity Company of Ghana
(ECG), the state-owned power off-taker and utility, at US$0.07 per kWh –
an equivalent of 32.1085 Ghanaian pesewas.

For eleQtra, this
scheme is the company’s second largest renewable energy undertaking in
Ghana after the 20-MW photovoltaic (PV) solar plant in the Northern
region of the West African country. This PV plant is being implemented
through the locally incorporated La Honda Solar.

The project
developers have already been issued with a provisional generation permit
from Ghana’s Energy Commission to construct the facility as an
independent power producer (IPP), under a build, own and operate (BOO)
model, following the signing of a 20-year power purchase agreement
(PPA).

The two projects will form a major push in the country’s
current drive to reduce its reliance on drought-plagued hydropower
generation. As of the end of 2016, installed capacity stood at 4,132 MW,
but plans are in motion to increase the share of renewable energy in
the country’s total energy mix to 10% by 2020. Overall, Ghana hopes to
establish 2,000 MW of new capacity generation over the next three years.

Yet the renewable energy target appears unrealistic, given that
no project has yet been completed, while solar – the only other main
power generation technology, in addition to hydropower (52%) and thermal
(48%) – has only managed a generation capacity of less than 1%, mainly
in off-grid areas. With the backing of energy major Engie, the Ada
project could be a breakthrough, but may not be enough to ensure the
2020 goal is met.